(Heartland Newsfeed) — Bitcoin prices sunk below $6,000 in market trading Friday, busting below an already established low for 2018.

Based on an Average of all major Bitcoin exchanges, the average price of Bitcoin sunk to $5,938.18 at 3:51 PM CDT, surpassing a prior market low of $5,947, which took place in early February.

As of publication, prices have recovered to an average of nearly $6,138 since the new low was established, but it shows brief signs of relief as the average price of Bitcoin dropped more than $700 since the beginning of Friday’s trading.

Today’s market actions also resulted in a dip in Bitcoin’s market capitalization, falling back to its lowest of the year at $102 billion.

Bitcoin analysts suggest that a bearish market is behind the recent decline as earlier technical charts presented the potential of Bitcoin falling below $6,000.

Prices hit a high for the week on Wednesday before bearish traders started a sellout late Thursday evening, although it is unclear what is to come in the week ahead.

As of publication, Bitcoin is trading on Coinbase at $6,146.46, Bitcoin Cash is trading at $766.06, Ethereum is trading at $469.18 and Litecoin trading at $85.80.